Know yourself. There are many "right" ways to lose weight and get healthier. If you're in it for the long haul, you don't have to do it all at once. Change one habit today, then another, then another.
A couple of first come to minds have already been used - COMMIT and find foods that you LOVE, sooooooo, I'll throw in -
You don't have to be fat if you don't want to be. KNOW IT. OWN IT. It is totally and completely in our hands. It is a choice to BE fat. So therefore it's a choice to NOT be fat.
Choose it. I don't mean make the choice to lose weight today. I mean choose to lose weight every day, all day. This means that you don't get to say "It's birthday cake day at work and I can't have any WAAAAAH!" Instead you get to choose.
You can choose not to have that cake - but you're not allowed to REGRET not having the cake.
You can choose to have a small sliver of cake to savor and enjoy - and not regret having eaten it.
You can choose to have a big ole slab of cake - and not regret that either, because you're not helpless to the cake. There's no "I couldn't help it," because you can ALWAYS help it. You always get to choose.
I've found great peace of mind in taking 100% responsibility for my choices. I never feel deprived because every time I go to bed hungry I'm choosing it. And every time I have a bedtime snack because I can't bear the belly rumbles I'm choosing that too. When I'm confronted with the delicious bread basket at a restaurant I ask myself 'do you really want it?' Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes no. Either way, because I know get to decide I never feel cheated or frustrated or sad. I never feel like this is unfair.
Basically it's a mind game that I play with myself, but I think much of the weight loss process is mind games (how many of us have talked ourselves into liking veggies just by thinking "mmmm! YUM!" while eating something we didn't previously like all that much?).
If I had to pick one thing to say, it would be "Don't WAIT" as in, don't wait for all the stars to align to be 'perfect time' to start; don't wait til so and so's wedding is over; don't wait til you get a huge bolt of lightening epiphany that changes your life LOL just start and trudge thru it.
Find what works for you and do it that day, then do it all over again tomarrow. What works for so and so will not work for you, so focus on you and you will get there.
Just for the record...we great minds all think so much alike!
Plan to fail if you fail to plan.
Find food you love that's whole and healthy.
Potatoes (couch) are pretty darn round and if you're one you probably will be too!
Like the TV commercials say - DON'T DELAY, ACT NOW!
Last edited by traci in training; 09-01-2009 at 10:42 PM.
This has helped me SO MUCH. Whenever I used to fail I would cry and cry and feel so sorry for myself and think how I would always be fat. This time, I have already failed many times but the difference is that I just say 'I messed up' and start over fresh every morning.
2. When you lay in bed at night, think positively. Just lay in bed and imagine yourself one year from now and how you will look and how you will feel. You will fall asleep with a smile on your face!
I do this at the gym too when I'm on the treadmill. They play music videos on a big screen TV and I like to imagine that the singer/rapper whatever is singing to me because he thinks I'm so hot!
Last edited by Jadebatdog; 09-02-2009 at 02:57 AM.
It is ok to 'fake it 'til you make it'. This is something someone told me and it has helped me a lot. You don't have to love veggies right now, fake it, you'll get there. You don't have to want to work out, but if you do it anyway then eventually you will want to.
Get good shoes. This is very important because bad shoes can cause some bad injuries during excercise and if you have recently made a commitment to yourself to get healthy you really don't need an injury holding you back.
This one has already been said, but I agree so much that I will say it again - start now. Don't even wait until tomorrow. I don't care if you had a dozen donuts for breakfast and washed them down with a 2 liter of soda. That does not stop you from having a grilled chicken salad for lunch. Now means now! The same thing goes for when you have slip ups. If you've been doing well and you decide to eat a big piece of cake or a snickers or something that does not mean you should continue eating poorly for the rest of that day and try to start over in the morning. The sooner you jump back on the better.
It's ok to treat yourself if you are willing to pay the price. I love whatchamacallits - they are 230 calories each and 28 carbs. If I am willing to do the 20-30 extra minutes on the elliptical and give up some other carbs that day then I can have one.
Ok, so I'm talkative and don't know how to limit myself to one thing, 1, 4, same thing, right?
I'd say listen to your body, we can do it as children, relearn this valuable lesson. If hungry, eat, and stop when you feel full. Trust in yourself to do this
